510 Transactions. 



average stocking, however, I believe I am making no mistake 

 in attributing our later springs and later lambings to the dying- 

 out of rye-grass and clover, and the lessened vigour of cocksfoot, 

 Poa pratensis, and fog. 



My conclusion is, then, that land is worth less than it was a 

 quarter of a century ago. Larger prices are now paid for it 

 because there is a greater demand, and partly because we now 

 know better how it should be treated. 



The alien grasses at present on the run, or which have been 

 on the run, are — Paspalum dilatatum, Panicum crus-gaUi, Se- 

 taria viridis, Phalaris canariensis, Anthoxanthum odoratum, PMeum 

 pratense, Alopecurus pratensis, Polypogon monspeliensis, Agrostis 

 alba, Holcus lanatus, Aira caryophylla, Cynodon dactylon, Briza 

 minor, Dactylis glomerata, Cynosurus cristatus, Poa annua, Poa 

 pratensis, Festuca elatior, Festuca ovina, Festuca rubra, Festuca 

 myuros, Festuca bromoides, Bromus mollis, Bromus racemosus, 

 Bromus unioloides, Lolium perenne, Lolium italicum, Agropyrum 

 repens, Hordeum murinum, Sporobolus indicus, " Johnson's 

 grass." 



Of these thirty-one species, only nine have been purposely 

 sown, or eleven if Cynosurus cristatus and Agrostis alba are 

 counted. These two, however, were only sown long after the 

 species had found their own way on to the land. Twenty-two, 

 therefore, out of the thirty-one enumerated have reached Tu- 

 tira unseen and unnoticed. 



The vast proportion of the run does not carry anything that 

 can be dignified by the name of turf. On the pumiceous lands, 

 although to some extent the hill-tops have become grassed, the 

 valleys still support only fern and manuka. 



Over this country at intervals of five or six years fires can be 

 run. After such a fire, until the first rain falls, a delicate grey 

 veil of brittle ash, still retaining the mould of the fern-fronds, 

 lies light on the surface, and a pleasant scent of sea-salt pervades 

 the air — an odour similar to that of new-cut bracken. Here 

 and there a totara log, relic of the old forest, sends up a blue 

 smoke, and over the desolate scene sail harriers looking for 

 roast lizards and small birds. 



The fust shower lays the light ash flat on the ground, chang- 

 ing the surface to jet-black, and almost at once new growths 

 appear. Most prominent at first are the bright circles of verdure 

 from the red-clover roots ; green needles shoot up from the old 

 roots of Danthonia semiannularis ; multitudes of small convex 

 Microlcena stipoides leaves appear singly ; some of the old 

 cocksfoot-stools show life — indeed, as the ground around hardens, 

 this »rass survives to a greater degree. Then thistle-seeds 

 germinate — few in comparison to the sward of prickly stars 



